One year ago today: June 21, 2024, vitamin D.
Five years ago today: June 21, 2020, it’s the cold.
Nine years ago today: June 21, 2016, but they still insist.
Random years ago today: June 21, 2004, Caddy’s in the shop.
Up early on a fine day, I read for another hour and finally grasped the concept behind a navigational technique I’ve been using for years without understanding. It’s the relationship between the nearest integer latitude of your dead reckoning position and the declination of the object you have sighted, in my case usually the Sun. Once more, the hitch was the terrible way the topic is presented. It was not until today when I imagined the points moving, not static, that it hit me—there are at least two ways to be correct. They are not fixed points, but a relationship between the two.
How about those “ancient runes” the Canadian government kept a secret for seven years after they were discovered in northern Manitoba? Turns out it was the Lord’s Prayer scratched on the rock by a Hudson’s Bay company employee a couple hundred years ago. Some bribe money has been traced to Kamela. Did you know Juneteenth came about years after the Civil War when Union occupation forces found entire working plantations where the owners had simply not bothered telling the slaves they were free. How about that Chinese guy who nearly passed out on the sidewalk after eating London’s hottest curry?
Here’s something predictable, see this enclosed box? Yep, I call it the J-box and you knew it was coming. It is a Z-box with a lid. More later, as the day stayed mild and the neighbor on the other side and I sat around talking news and a bit of the way things really used to be better. We never used to lock the doors on the house when we were growing up and it sure as hell is not us or our kind that changed all that.
As my energy levels return, I got to more small tasks and one was better perches for the red cardinals. The feeder design people were not thinking when they made their model out of coated enamel wire. The birdies can’t get purchase on that, so I put some dowels. The birdies will still have to flit and fuss a bit, but any bigger and you get the squirrels back. The far back yard gets taken over every year by that bush with the great-looking orange compound flowers. This time, I don’t want to go back there, its been since February I can’t smack down the growth.
I wrote a letter to my pal up north mostly to keep up to date with some of my last vestiges of contact north or west of where I am now. He has friends in Edmonton, Alberta, and is there for two months. Never will I understand how a guy from Lousiana likes cold weather. He has the ability to talk about things over 50 years ago like today, I often have to bring up a satellite map to remind me. Like how “Carol’s Café” is now the “Jade Garden Dining Emporium”.
And on the books, so far with these boxes, I have lost $459.
Saw’s Soul Kitchen
(B’ham, Alabama)
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A pleasant afternoon had me in the shed using the Z-box template to put a J-box together. Here is the basic design without hinges, latch, or carrying handle. It is the Z-box with a lid and the process of making what you see here reflects my lack of experience. I made a lot of the same mistakes over again, such as uneven lid cuts and slicing through staples with my precious saw blade. Shown here, the basic design is sound and once more the box is many times stronger than it would need to be for most purposes.
The leftover pieces from the ebox found their way into this planter thingee. It’s copycat and unoriginal, just quick and no-fuss. Slapped together with the pneumatic nailer, the last panel shows why I’ll keep this for my own use. You can just see the nail points poking through the wood. In this case, they are inside the frame. You know what’s funny about this kind of making things? I find the walking back and forth wasted effort, but I can’t help thinking how the hillbilly, if you set him to work at such work, would quickly become adapted to it and satisfied that he was doing a fine job of it.
They’ll say an 10:00AM appointment, but you have to arrive a half-hour early. They won’t prepare the shots unless you are signed in. In each case so far, the shots are first-come first serve and they don’t seem to allow for delays. I’ve never gotten in less than a two-hour wait, then another half-hour on the treatment table.
Then, they wheel you into a waiting area. They are naturally cautious of after effects and let you drink all the water you want. I’m uncomfortable in the recovery area, how can I put this? The area is always full of the sort of people I would never associate with or even go near if I had any choice. No, I won’t explain except to say my medical condition is not a result of a sordid lifestyle, substance abuse, over-eating, lack of exercise, or things like neglect or stupidity. It’s only two more weeks and for all I know, it is freakishly rare for normal people to have spine conditions like mine.
ADDENDUM
Late today I read confirmation that Trump did bomb Iran. That makes every one of us a legitimate target. Mind you, any Americans in the Middle East at this time should not receive any taxpayer help. They got there on their own. Does Iran have a missile capable of hitting the USA? We’ll find out, but what is more likely is terrorist attacks by the thousands of illegals let in by Biden. Nobody knows who or where they are. With any luck, they will hit the Atlantic northeast, who I blame for 99% of all America’s woes.
